my retard first post

so i ordered a 400 w htg hps ballast and an cool tubel 6'' ....the socket that comes in the cool tube cant plug into the htg ballast bc the socket that comes with the ballast is permantly fixed to the ballast....thus i had to do some fandangling to get the htg socket into the cool tube... did a pretty good job i think... anyway heres the problem.... the ballast has been on for like an hour now, but no light... i read that there was a possibilty the bulb wasnt in all the way, so i tightened it, but no bueno...so i got to thinking i had not tightened all the screws back down during the socket/reflector fandangling.... i unplugged the ballast and attempted to tighten to the first screw when i got a nasty shock (i know im an idiot...but im stoned and forget the socket doesnt unplug from the ballast)...anyway i dont know what to do now...i screwed the bulb back in and plug it all back in and smoked bowl.... now what??

So either your bulb or ballast is bad, id guess it would be your bulb though. I've read a handful of complaints about lights from htg burning out within a week or even not sparking like you say.

If you don't have another ballast to try it on, take the bulb to your local hydro store and test it.

do you have a multimeter ? prolly not if you did you would know how to use it and have already figured it out

Take it to ace hardware, osh, home depot or equivalent and have someone use a multimeter on it

yeah i think im gonna go to the hydro store ... have them test the bulb... u think theyll test the ballast or whatever too??

and i dont know exactly what a multimeter is but i assume u would use it to test if the socket is getting power from the ballast...which i can assure u it is...my finger can tell u first hand that theres juice comin from that socket.....i think it pretty much has to be the connection or the bulb????